.
-
Amerindian peoples have existed in Trinidad
for as long as 7,000 years before the arrival of Columbus, and numbered
at least 40,000 at the time of Spanish settlement in 1592.
-
All of Trinidad was populated by several
tribes, Trinidad being a transit point in the Caribbean network of Amerindian
trade and exchange.
-
Amerindian tribes were referred to by
various names: Yaio, Nepuyo, Chaima, Warao, Carinepogoto, Aruaca,
Shebaio, Saluaio, etc.
-
Amerindian words and place names survive
into the present: the Caroni and Oropouche rivers;
the Tamana and Aripo mountains; places such as
Arima,
Aripo, Paria, Arouca, Caura, Tunapuna, Tacarigua, Couva, Mucurapo, Chaguanas,
Carapichaima, Guaico, Mayaro, Guayaguayare; flora such as cassava,
maize, cacao, tobacco, and fauna such as manicou and agouti.
Some
of the place names refer to objects used by Amerindians: Guaico, an obvious
adulteration of "guayuco" refers to what some call the "loin cloth" worn
by Amerindians; Aripo is the name for the griddle used to cook cassava
bread; Maracas, as you have already guessed, refers to the musical rattle.
Some place names also remind us of the names of Amerindian groups of the
past: Chaguanas, Piarco (from Parico), Tamana,
-
Trinidad's Amerindians formed part of
large regional island-to-island and island-to-mainland trading networks;
the Warao of Venezuela, who still exist, were frequent vistors until only
recent times.
-
The Amerindians developed the canoe,
the bow and arrow, and the ajoupa (the name of their housing structures)..
-
Amerindian cuisine is enjoyed by many
Trinidadians: Cassava bread and Farine; Warap; barbecued wild
game; corn pastelles; coffee; cocoa; chardon beni.
-
The Amerindians also gave Trinidad and
Tobago its first major rebellion in the name of freedom: the Arena
uprising of 1699, led by Cacique Bustamante.
-
In 1783 Trinidad's Amerindians were
displaced from their lands to make way for the influx of French planters
and their African slaves.
-
Around 1759 the Mission of Arima was
formed, consolidated and enlarged by 1786, and the Amerindians were to
have had control of a maximum of 1,300 acres of land.
-
A number of tribes were pressed into
Arima, mostly Nepuyo, and generically referred to as either "Caribe" or
"Indio" -- Arima was the last Mission Town.
-
Parang, utilizing both Spanish
and Amerindian musical instruments, emerged from the evangelization of
the Amerindians, some argue.
-
The Caribs in Arima , converted to Catholicism,
were led by a Titular Queen.
-
The histories of major towns such as
Arima and Siparia, two large former Amerindian Mission Towns, have given
us Trinidad's two oldest festivals: The Santa Rosa Festival of Arima,
and La Divina Pastora in Siparia.
-
The Santa Rosa Carib Community is the
last remaining organized group of people identifying with an Amerindian
identity and way of life.
-
At least 12,000 people in Northeast
Trinidad may be of Amerindian descent.
|
. |